Deb's DigestDebbie
Atkinson’s family life column, as featured in the Southport Visiter.

Monday, 8 September 2008

WINDSOR & HAMMERSMITH

We decided that it was about time we visited the London son so we booked an apartment near West Wycombe - from the internet and set off on Friday. That's last Friday - the day of the deluge. I think we saw every drop of rain there was and it was almost impossible to see a thing on the motorway. However, the apartment was better than we could have hoped for and our French windows had beautiful views over rain-soaked Chiltern Hills.

Whoever invented sat navs deserves every penny of their fortune. It cleverly got us to our son's front door in Hammersmith in 45 minutes. We walked to the Anglesea Arms for lunch and my husband, who is a bit of an expert on steak pies - having eaten so many during his 62 years - declared his beef pie and mash to be the best ever.

While we were in the High Wycombe area we visited the village where The Vicar of Dibley is filmed, Turville.

and we saw the church where the wedding scene was filmed....

Spookily enough, when we got back to our apartment we watched Midsummer Murders and there was the very church. We also went to Windsor and Oxford - so much to see and do. We'll have to go back.

Our daughter should be in the middle of packing her bags in time to get the shuttle bus to Atlanta airport. Before she went I told her to keep in touch and that we'd pay her mobile phone bill. Little did I realise that that promise has opened the floodgates to multi media messages galore including dozens of photos and today - a video! I wonder, at 26 is she too old for a smacked bottom?